Regulation of Financial Services (Land Transactions) Bill

One might assume that Treasury Ministers and I would have approached this debate with a somewhat heavy heart, as there must surely be better ways of spending a sun-drenched Thursday afternoon than debating an uncontentious—or relatively uncontentious—Bill such as this. Our cheerful countenance owes more to the fact that the alternative attraction for us this afternoon would be poring over yet more clauses of the Finance Bill in Committee. Make no mistake, the lottery of parliamentary timetabling sometimes produces winners. I am delighted to lead for the Opposition on this Second Reading debate. I welcome the Chief Secretary to his place in the Government’s Treasury team. As was pointed out earlier, he is deputising—if that is the right word—for the Economic Secretary, who is attending his sister’s wedding. My only hope for the rest of the Lewis clan is that he will not make a long speech at that happy family occasion, or if so that equity release and home reversion schemes will not feature as part of it. In this illustrious Treasury team there is also a Financial Secretary who, with a name like Healey, was always destined to make his name in that great Department of State. But to really get on, as the Chief Secretary will confirm, he will need to change his name by deed poll to Brown. For my part, at 40 in this relatively youthful shadow Treasury team, I am something of a veteran, in age if not experience. As someone who is already over the hill, I am a warning to all new Members present about how quickly one goes from being a young Turk to an old stager. Let me get on to the business. I should say at the outset that, in principle, Conservatives support the proposals in the Bill. We welcome any move that will increase public confidence in home reversion or equity release schemes, which have been the subject of a stream of adverse publicity in the financial press over recent years. We accept the proper desire of Government to facilitate consumers making better, more informed choices and to create a level playing field in this rapidly evolving market. As life expectancy increases, Conservatives welcome innovative new ways for people during their lifetime to utilise the equity that they have accumulated in their main residential home. As the Minister said, this should help the elderly to live with dignity and independence. Naturally, we shall want during the passage of the Bill to examine the proposals carefully to ensure that any new rules are not overly complicated and achieve their goal with the minimum of regulatory burden. Above all, we need a flexible approach.